Diamond Hibiscus
by Strelitzia Noir
Summary: Prim and proper closet fangirl meets goofy, big-eating bookworm. Just the right amount of perfection. DiaMaru Fluffs
1. Chapter 1

"Dia-chan?"

"..."

Hanamaru tugged at her girlfriend's sleeve as they rode the bus home, but for some reason, Dia was ignoring her.

"Dia-chan..."

"..."

Even as she pleaded and tugged a bit harder, Hanamaru was still being ignoredas Dia kept a stern face looking out the window of the bus, not even bothering to turn her head.

"Dia-chan..."

"What?"

Hanamaru, now leaning on her shoulder, finally got Dia to notice her, although the older girl sounded quite annoyed at her persistence, giving her a sharp glare.

"Are you still mad, zura?"

"..."

Again, Dia looked away and back out to the seaside.

"I swear, Mari-chan tricked me into eating your pudding...I'm sorry, okay?"

"..."

"Do you hate me now, zura?"

Dia's head quickly turned to her girlfriend, who was looking down and depressed with the guilt of having been tricked into eating her favorite pudding. She was mad, but deep down she knew Hanamaru had just been pranked by the ever mischievous Mari. She sighed as she put her arm around the brunette, gently pulling her close.

"Silly...you know I can't be mad at you. It's just, you know...I've been holding back on that pudding and now that I wanted to finally have it..."

Hanamaru suddenly pipped up back to her cheerful self as she snuggled onto Dia's chest.

"Don't worry, I'll make it up to you, zura."

"It's fine. I can always just buy another one."

"No, zura! I mean, I think can make it up to you now."

"What do yo-mm"

What interrupted Dia was Hanamaru suddenly deciding to lean up to kiss her. It wasn't the first time, but for some reason, this one feels strangely unique to all the others...

...Hanamaru tasted like pudding.

Dia, now fully red and with several embarrassing thoughts rushing to her head, simply buried her head in her girlfriend's shoulder, completely unable to mount a comeback.

"Y-you wouldn't mind me having seconds, right?"

Hanamaru just smiled.

"Anything for you, zura."


	2. Chapter 2

"What do you think? You think you can pick me up from the station tomorrow?"

"Well, I guess tomorrow works. What time should I be there?"

"I'll be taking the first train out so I should be there by around 10 in the morning."

"Okay, I'll be there."

"See you, Dia."

"Take care, Kanan-san."

March 3rd. Dia, of course, was excited about the idea of meeting up with her best friend Kanan for the first time in almost a year. Kanan had called her up out of the blue saying she was going to come visit Tokyo and that the two of them should meet up.

Normally, Dia would be feeling much more enthusiastic about this, but this time, she felt that something else was missing. Tomorrow would be March 4th, a special date for herself and for someone special.

It was Hanamaru's birthday.

The two of them have been in contact almost daily, of course, but they never really brought up Hanamaru's birthday. Last time they met was on New Year's day, which, conveniently, was also Dia's birthday.

Dia thought about calling Kanan and asking if she could take Hanamaru along with her, seeing as three of them make up AZALEA, but she didn't know how to do it as a surprise.

Dia's girlfriend was probably the most perceptive person she knew, and the mere mention of the word Tokyo will quickly blow the cover off of any surprises she has in store.

"Maybe I can ask Kanan-san to send my present back to Hanamaru..."

The thought floated around Dia's mind and she eventually settled on it, thinking it was the best choice she had at hand. She'd take some time off of their meeting tomorrow to get some presents for Hanamaru and have Kanan send it back to Numazu.

"Well at least it'll be a surprise..."

Dia went to sleep early, knowing she'd have to get up early and drive to the station to pick her best friend up. The next day, she arrived at the station some half an hour earlier than scheduled.

Something bothered her however as she fidgeted with her car keys, she wanted to greet Hanamaru early in the morning but for some reason, she couldn't contact her. She thought that maybe Hanamaru had forgotten to charge her phone and the battery ran out overnight, but not knowing exactly what happened put her on edge.

At almost exactly 10AM, Dia's phone rang, and much to her delight, it was Hanamaru calling her. She quickly brought her phone to her ear.

"Hello?"

"..."

"H-Hanamaru?"

"Look behind you."

And as Dia turned to look, she felt Hanamaru jumping in to her arms, almost falling over as she didn't expect the younger girl being there at all. The two held each other for what seemed like a long time.

"H-h-h-how in the world..."

"Did I surprise you, zura?"

Dia couldn't believe what she was seeing. She had planned for spending the day with Kanan, even taking a bit of time off to buy Hanamaru a gift. Never did she expect that Hanamaru would actually be coming to Tokyo.

"W-where's Kanan-san?"

As if one cue, her phone started ringing again with Kanan calling her.

"Did you like the surprise?"

"You were in on this!?"

"Well, Hanamaru-chan sudden asked me to help her with something a week ago and since it's her birthday today, I thought I'd chip in."

"Wow...I had no idea."

"Thank you so much, Kanan-chan!"

"You mind telling her for me that it's no problem?"

"Yes, I will...Thank you, too, Kanan-san."

"Well, what am I your friend for? Enjoy your day, you two."

Dia looked at Hanamaru in front of her, and with her thoughts in utter disarray, still reeling from the shock of actually being with Hanamaru on her birthday, she only had one thing in mind.

Slowly leaning in, she sweetly kissed her girlfriend. A few weird looks from everyone around them but Dia could really care less. All it mattered was her, Hanamaru and today.

"Happy birthday, dear."


	3. Chapter 3

"Good morning, dear."

"Good morning, zura."

"Did I wake you?"

"No, no, I was already awake."

"Umm..."

"What is it, zura?"

"I, uh...kinda have to get up now."

"No, stay here with me for a bit more, zura."

"But, Hanamaru...I'll be late."

"Please, zura?"

"..."

"Pretty please..."

"Okay, maybe I can stay for five more minutes."

"Yay, thank you, zura."

"...hey, your hair smells nice."

"Ehehe, that's because you let me use your shampoo last night, zura."

"Onee-chan, are you awake? You'll be late for w-eeeeh!?"

Ruby slowly backed away from her sister's room before making a dash back to her own. What she saw was Dia...spooning a Hanamaru tera jumbo nesoberi plush doll in her bed, seemingly talking to herself, imitating her girlfriend's voice.

"H-hello? Hanamaru-chan? Please tell me when are you coming back...onee-chan's becoming really weird!"


	4. Chapter 4

"Hanamaru, can you come with me somewhere tonight?"

"Sure, but where do you want to go, zura?"

"Just trust me, it's a surprise. Shall I go pick you up later?"

"Okay, I'll see you, zura."

Dia put her phone down and sighed as she looked back to her bed. She was bound to head for Tokyo the next day, moving in to an apartment her parents had found for her to stay while attending college there.

"Would we really be alright after this..." she muttered to herself.

Even though everyone knew of all their plans after graduation, it always felt like Hanamaru never wanted to talk about her leaving for Tokyo. Everytime she tried to bring the topic up, the younger girl would always find a way to change the subject, and Dia would quickly pick up on the hint and never talk about it again.

Numazu may only be a few hours away from Tokyo, but the inconvenience of travelling back and forth on almost a daily basis was too much, even by train. To make it easier for her to go back whenever she wanted, however, she had convinced her parents to get herself a car, partly inspired by her best friend Mari having got one herself.

"Maybe we can go back there again..."

About an hour later, Dia arrived in front of the temple where Hanamaru lives, where the young girl was waiting for her.

"Eh? You brought your car, zura?"

"I thought I'd take us somewhere a bit different tonight. Get in."

The two of them drove along the coastline for around half an hour, Hanamaru talking about mostly how her day went, while Dia simply avoided talking about her leaving the next day.

Eventually, they arrived at the top of the hill overlooking the town, the same place where Mari brought them a couple months back. Hanamaru quickly recognized the place as she got out of the car.

"Wow, isn't this where we went with Mari-chan, zura?"

"It is. I felt like tonight was special, so I thought I'd take you up here with me."

"...tomorrow's the day, huh?"

"What?"

"I know you've been trying not to talk about it, zura...same goes for me too, I guess, I'm sorry, it must've been hard on you, zura..."

"It's okay, I don't think I would've been comfortable talking about it either, until today, that is."

"Huh?"

Dia then pointed up at the night sky.

"Look, we can see the stars quite clearly from here, right?"

"I've almost forgotten how beautiful this looked, zura."

"One of those stars could be right above where I am when I'm over there. And the same goes for you, when I look up at night, one of the stars I see could be right above you. In a way, we're still connected by the stars."

"Dia-chan..."

"Hanamaru, I want you to have this."

Dia then handed over a star map, the exact same kind as the one Mari had, only this one had no streaks of marker on it.

"Isn't this..."

"When we were younger, Mari-san, Kanan-san and myself had this. Before we graduated, we all promised each other that no matter where we were, we'd all be connected. That we were never alone. I want to make the same promise to you."

"Zura..." Hanamaru was trying to fight back the tears that were starting to form around her eyes

"I may not be here as often as now, but I'll try my best to come back whenever I can. But whenever you feel lonely, just look up, pick any of the stars you see as the one above me, and I'll make sure to do the same."

Hanamaru then threw herself onto Dia's arms, the older girl almost losing her balance, though she simply smiled as she ran a hand along the brunette's long hair.

"I'll really miss you, zura..."

"Me too."

"Will you really come back once in a while, zura?"

"Of course, why'd you think I went through the trouble of getting a car in the first place?"

"Hehe, that's just like you, zura."


	5. Chapter 5

Dia and Hanamaru were sitting at the bus stop waiting for their trip home when Dia notices the younger girl looking a bit downbeat.

"Hanamaru? What's the matter?"

"Nothing..." says Hanamaru, not even averting her gaze from the ground.

"That doesn't look like nothing to me."

"No, really...I'm fine..." she says weakly, prompting Dia to sigh in disbelief

"I've known you for long enough to know when something's bothering you. Come on, you can tell me anything."

"I...n-nevermind. It's so silly anyway."

"Which makes me want to hear it more, zura."

"Z-zura?" Hanamaru quickly looks at Dia weirdly, hearing the older girl use her verbal tic.

"Finally I get you to look at me." Dia says sweetly enough to make Hanamaru instantly turn red "You tend to speak differently when you're bothered about something, it's actually pretty easy to tell."

"Hey, can you promise not to laugh, zura?"

"Why would I even do that?"

"Just promise me, okay?"

"Okay. Whatever that is, I promise not to laugh."

Hanamaru takes a deep breath for a moment, trying to compose herself "Do you think I'm cute, zura?"

Dia, a bit dumbfounded by Hanamaru's question, just tilts her head with a confused look "Huh?"

"I knew it...I'm not cute at all..."

Hanamaru's defeated tone caused Dia a bit of a panic "Wait, hang on a moment...w-why would you suddenly ask that?"

"I don't know...I see everyone when we have lives and everyone's just so cute in their costumes. I just don't feel like I look that cute. I look plain, ordinary, average and all that. I'm not like ever-huh!?"

Having heard enough, Dia put her hand on Hanamaru's cheek and gently turned her head towards her, catching the brunette completely off-guard. "Look at me. I know my eyes are perfectly fine and all I can see right now is the most beautiful flower I've ever laid my eyes on." she then slowly leaned in to kiss Hanamaru.

The whole bus ride home, Hanamaru could only look down in silence as she leaned on Dia's shoulder, trying to hide her completely flustered face.


	6. Chapter 6

Dia sat in her room, looking somewhat depressed as she looked down on her phone. She started fiddling with the screen until she found herself in her phonebook. Finding her girlfriend's number, she quickly pressed the call button.

"Hello?"

"Hanamaru...can you come over here for a bit?"

"What's wrong? You sound awful, zura."

"I'll tell you when you get here."

Within the hour, Hanamaru arrived at the Kurosawa residence, where she found Dia in her room, curled up in a ball at the corner of her bed while snuggling her pillow. The older girl looked up and smiled weakly at the brunette as she got in the room.

"What's wrong, zura?" asked Hanamaru as she sat on the edge of the bed. "Wait a minute, wasn't Ruby-chan supposed to be going to Hokkaido today, zura?"

"That's exactly it." replied Dia "Sarah-san and Leah-san arrived earlier this morning to pick Ruby up. I'm just worried what would happen to Ruby when she's alone there..."

"Well, she's not exactly alone, zura. She's just gonna be staying over for the long weekend and Sarah-san and Leah-chan are there with her too, zura.

"But it's still a far away place, I'm just not sure Ruby's gonna be able to handle herself very well there..."

Hanamaru then slowly across the bed beside Dia, who was still snuggling her pillow "Dia-chan, you should really trust your sister more, zura. Besides, it's not like it's the first time she would be staying there. Remember when me, Yoshiko-chan and Ruby-chan stayed over there back in Christmas?"

"But that's different! You and Yoshiko-san were there with her...now, it's just...it's just Ruby...alone with Leah-san..." After a short pause, Dia furiously dug her face into her pillow while trying to stifle a scream.

Hanamaru quickly figured out what Dia getting worked up over, weakly laughing to herself for not realizing sooner. "Dia-chan~" she said sweetly as she leaned over to her girlfriend "Since when did you get jealous of Ruby-chan and Leah-chan, zura?~"

"W-w-w-what are you t-t-talking about!?" said a now flustered Dia.

Hanamaru gently took the pillow away from Dia and swiftly threw it away to the other side of the bed, "Ruby-chan and Leah-chan alone? I never thought you'd have such thoughts, Dia-chan." Leaning in so close to her that their faces were now only inches apart, Hanamaru slowly brought her lips to Dia's ear "You know, if you wanted to stop imagining things and actually experience it yourself...you could have just told me from the start, zura~" she whispered.

Dia swallowed audibly, her face all red "Y-you've been reading too much of those books!"

Hanamaru just smiled sheepishly "No, telling just doesn't cut it with those books, zura...fortunately, I can just show you the good parts."

"...please be gentle"

"As gentle as you'd like, zura~"


	7. Chapter 7

"Just stay in bed for a while, okay? I'll get you back up and running in no time, zura."

"Okay...if you say so."

Having ran through the rain the night before after forgetting her umbrella at school, coupled with apparently overworking herself in the past week, Dia unsurprisingly caught a bad fever and was now bedridden for the weekend. Having never seen her sister in such a bad state before, Ruby resorted to calling Hanamaru over to help.

"Running through the rain is one thing, but do you even know how to take a break, zura? Mari-chan told me how you've stayed over late everyday this past week."

"Well the papers aren't going to file themselves, are they? And I can't exactly leave this kind of stuff to Mari-san."

"How did you get so much backlog though?"

"That's...well...you know how sometimes we get so engrossed in practice that we end up getting so tired?"

"Ah, I see, you forgot to do them after practice and they just piled up. That's pretty clear, zura."

"No, I did no-oww!" Trying to get up from her bed in protest, Dia quickly fell back down as she felt her head spinning the moment she sat up.

"Calm down, zura. Hold on, I'll be right back."

Noticing that Hanamaru have been going to the kitchen and back to her room for several times now, Dia couldn't help but ask why when the brunette came back.

"What exactly are you doing? You've been coming in and out of my room like you were getting something." Dia then smelled a familiar scent as she looked at the tray Hanamaru now carried with her "Is, is that matcha?"

"Yup, Ruby-chan helped me brew some, that's why I've been going back there to see if she was done." she then handed a cup to Dia, whose eyes lit up at the sight of her favorite drink.

"By any chance...you wouldn't happen to have pudding too, would you?" Dia asked, albeit a little hesitantly.

Dia looking like a little girl shyly asking for sweets made Hanamaru laugh just a bit "Not yet, zura. You're not supposed to be eating sweets when you're sick." The defeated expression from Dia that followed almost made Hanamaru blush at how cute she thought it was. "Though, if you'll be a good girl and let me take care of you, I might just be able to bring you a plate later on, zura."

"W-what do you want to do, then?"

"Let's see...you don't look like you've been able to take a bath since you got sick. How about letting me give you a sponge bath, zura?"

"Wa-what!? I-I think I can do that by myself..."

"Nope, you won't be able to clean yourself well enough."

"...Fine. But, just do me a favor and close the door."

"Hmm?" Hanamaru asked, confused as to why Dia would make such a request.

Meanwhile, the older girl was turning redder as she tried to find her words "You know, someone might walk by and think we're doing something else entirely."

"Dia-chan!" Having realized the implications herself, Hanamaru, too, started to turn red.

"Just do it, okay? And I'll let you give me a sponge bath."

About a minute later, Ruby walked by Dia's room as she made her way to her own room, but stopped as she heard weird, muffled noises from inside her sister's room.

"Ah-hahaha, that tickles...ah! Hey, don't rub so hard there!"

"Wow, Dia-chan, you're actually really ticklish."

"That's because you're really tickling me on purpo-ah! Stop!"

Ruby, now with a shocked expression on her face, slowly backed off from Dia's room and carefully crept her way back to hers, completely misunderstanding the sponge bath Hanamaru was giving her sister.


	8. Chapter 8

All nine members of Aqours were hanging out in an arcade in downtown Uchiura, where the arcade's UFO crane machines featured mega jumbo-sized nesoberi plush dolls of themselves, part of the arcade chain's campaign for the winners of Love Live.

"Alright everyone, let's see who can get the most plushes!" Chika said as everyone went to their own crane machines to try and nab some prizes.

Predictably, Chika, Riko and You went for their respective plush dolls, Kanan and Mari tried to get each other's plushes, Yoshiko going for her own doll while also helping Ruby getting hers and her fellow first year's dolls.

Dia and Hanamaru, meanwhile, got into a little competition as to who can get both of their dolls first.

"So, who gets both our dolls first wins, zura?"

"Precisely."

"I see, what's gonna be the prize then, zura?"

"Well, the loser does what the winners wants to do. Just like always."

"Okay then, let's do this, zura!"

Both girls went their own ways of figuring out how to get their prizes, Dia carefully observing how her crane works, Hanamaru simply going by feel and even switching to other machines if she felt she had a better chance with them.

"I got one!" Dia cried out as she managed to successfully grab one of her own dolls from her machine, proudly holding it out in front of Hanamaru, who simply pouted in response as she watched her crane barely grab hold of her plush doll.

Meanwhile, a few machines away, Ruby and Yoshiko were on quite the streak, "Amazing! That's already four, Yoshiko-chan!" Ruby cheerfully said as Yoshiko snagged another plush doll.

"Hehe, these dolls are simply waiting to become my little demons that they couldn't resist getting on my crane." Being a regular at the arcades, Yoshiko was very much familiar with crane games, having won most of her plush doll collections from them "And it's Yohane!"

Hanamaru, hearing Ruby and Yoshiko's progress while watching Dia work on getting her Hanamaru plush doll to win their little competition, decided to pull her friend over for some assistance.

"Yoshiko-chan! I need your help, zura!"

After Dia had finally managed to win the Hanamaru plush doll, she walked over to see how Hanamaru was doing, only to have the younger girl hold out her own Hanamaru and Dia plushes.

"H-how!?" Dia muttered in disbelief, since she remembered Hanamaru struggling to get even one a few minutes ago.

"Oh nothing, just learned a few tips from Yoshiko-chan~"

"Tips!? Zuramaru, you just asked me to get them for y-hmmm!" Yoshiko protested but Hanamaru was quick to cover her mouth and pull her away towards Ruby.

"I lost...again." Dia trailed off, a bit disappointed in her loss.

Hanamaru, feeling a bit proud of her victory, started thinking out loud on her prize "Now, what prize should I get from Dia-chan..."

Feeling flustered and unable to say anything, Dia instead decided to give Hanamaru a little hint. She held her and Hanamaru's dolls on each hand and slowly brought their faces close to one another. She did this again and again until Hanamaru finally turned red as she caught on the hint.

"W-w-what, zura!?"

"You see it, right?" Dia said as she again pressed the dolls' faces together for a bit longer now.

"I guess I got no choice, zura...though you'd have to wait until we all go home, okay?" Hanamaru whispered.

"You can stay for the night, it is the weekends, after all." Dia, for a brief moment, felt glad that she actually lost their game...again.


End file.
